NEW YORK DAY BY DAY

T he People's Firehouse, which is what Brooklyn's Northside neighborhood still calls the firehouse that was reopened in 1978 after a community takeover of the building, has spawned two storefront centers, a whole revitalization movement and six young sign painters.

The group of residents formed during the firehouse battle and the new Northside Merchants Association got a $78,000 city contract to spruce up 33 business facades on Bedford Avenue in the Polish neighborhood in the Williamsburg section.

They also got $33,700 for new shop signs from the state's Office of Urban Initiative.

And at an ''unveiling'' on Thursday - at which a bed sheet was removed from a ''Print Shop'' sign done in gold script - the community thanked the six 15-year-olds who had painted for 28 hours a week since June, without a single absence, in a People's Firehouse collaboration with Pratt Institute and the city's summer youth employment program.

After four weeks' instruction by David Ravitch, a graphics designer from the Park Slope section, and Diane Jackanin, a local freelance artist, the four girls and two boys also finished signs for a pizzeria, a grocery and a liquor store. ''You wouldn't believe kids did them, they look so professional,'' said Fred Ringler, the People's Firehouse administrator.

Since ''the kids got excited about it, too,'' Mr. Ringler said, the plan is ''to set up a little business - they'll make a reasonable price to the merchants and go out and solicit business.''

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A version of this article appears in print on August 21, 1982, on Page 1001026 of the National edition with the headline: NEW YORK DAY BY DAY. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe